The enterprise software industry is searching for the right words to describe the Next Big Thing -- "on demand", "utility", "autonomic", "adaptive enterprise". Pick a buzzword. The goal is information technology that adapts to business requirements, not the other way around. Two technologies are critical to this vision of flexibility: grid computing and web services. The combination of these two technologies is greater than the parts. In fact, it's the Next Big Thing. Now if we can just come up with the right words.

Bill Coleman is CEO of Cassatt Corporation. He was the founding CEO of BEA, the fastest-growing software firm ever to exceed $1 billion in annual revenue. Before that, Coleman held executive and manager positions at Sun Microsystems, Dest Systems, VisiCorp, and GTE Sylvania. He holds M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Computer Engineering from Stanford University.